The Immortal Insomniac
by El Chacal
Summary: A visual depiction of the events that transpired and the questions unanswered. An old story brought back after so many years. Please read & revew.


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The Immortal Insomniac 

By El Chacal

Disclaimer: You all know the drill. Don't own 'em. Don't sue me. All thanks to Jeffrey Eugenides and all praise to Sofia Coppola for the book and the movie.

Summary: This story depicts everything that happened from an unseen eye.Author's notes: If you have any suggestions, comments or ideas, Read and Review please. If anyone has the idea of posting this anywhere else, let me know where and when, please?

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_**We would never be certain as to the sequence of events. We argue about it still…**_

She gazed down at the contents in her hands. In her left hand was an empty bottle of gin she lifted from her mother's secret stash while her right hand held an empty bottle of sleeping pills. Her death, in comparison to the others, had perhaps been the least painful. Fire and vapor would not scald her pale countenance nor would her neck be fractured from the end of a noose. Her lungs would not revolt in vain against the onslaught of carbon monoxide and nicotine fumes. She would find eternal slumber in peace.

She began to fall into the darkness as death took her. As she lay down, she then thought of the boys. Parker Denton, who took Bonnie to the homecoming dance; Tim Weiner, who spoke to her about Yale at the basement party; Chase Buell and David Barker: their 'knights in shining armor'.

She knew that they wanted to be their 'prince charming', to come sweep them away from their nightmarish prison and ride off into the sunset with them. Alas, she doubted that there would ever be the proverbial 'happily ever after' for her and her sisters, who would soon be meeting their ends at their own hands. She had a dream one dreary evening of her giving birth to Mary, Bonnie, Lux and Cecilia. Perhaps it was a mental tribute of her life; the eldest sister, who was, in many ways, more of a mother figure for them than their real mother. That image brought her a somber smile to her soul before she felt her heart stop beating.

Did Mary wear hairspray before she consecrated her body to the flames? The gas began to seep from the oven as the kitchen began to fill with the scent of smoldering flesh and locks.

Mary always wanted to be a cheerleader. Not just because the guys would gush over her because they would and they were already doing that. She wanted to show herself to the world. Their mother turned tyrant wouldn't allow her to do that. She never even allowed them to grow up right; as though she had set out to keep them as her little girls forever.

The sounds of the station wagon brought her attention to her rebellious and wanton sister, Lux. Apparently, she wanted to illustrate clearly that she was suffocating. Their sanctimonious, despotic mother turned their once happy home into a prison. Had that been the very thing that drove Lux to those midnight rendezvous with guys on the roof every night? Was it to spite her mother? Or was it to numb the pain of how that pompous jerk, Trip used her and walked away as though it meant nothing. Or had it been her last gasp or hope at finding love and affection from another human being?

She remembered watching Lux drag those peach crates down the stairs, tears in her eyes as she was forced to give up her rock records. It was music. It did not compel her to do anything against her will or corrupt her mind. The stench of burning music was as excruciating as her heartrending cries for clemency.

Where was their father when all this happened? Did he have the backbone to stand up for them? That old fool, though she loved him dearly, was blind and could not face the horrors that lived in his home or in his family. Or wouldn't. Because that would have to mean he would have to face up to what was happening to his family. When Cecilia died, he couldn't't open up to Father Moody, who was reaching out to him, offering him counsel and comfort in the face of an intolerable bereavement.

As well, being a teacher at the very school they went to, how could he have not noticed their unexplained absence? From Cecilia, Lux, Bonnie and Mary, he may not have thought much about it, but if Therese, the most studious of the five, was absent for one day, he would have found out immediately why.

Would he have?

The squeaking sounds of Bonnie's lifeless body dangling from the noose; the very concept in and of itself was too terrible to imagine or to remember. Perhaps that had been the reason she chose to end her life in the privacy of the basement.

Wherever they were going, there wasn't going be any bright light at the end of any tunnel or any pearly gates waiting for them. Most likely, they were going to join Cecilia in hell for taking their own lives. On the other hand, their life since the impromptu incarceration heralded by their mother wasn't exactly a blissful heaven. One hell for another, as it was.

The clock on the wall read "2:00am".

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In the morning, the boys woke up to a surprise of their own. The Cougar that Chase offered to drive the Lisbon girls out in was gone. Everyone was too shocked to notice or care in the wake of the Lisbon girls' suicides. The aftermath of such an event was a field day for reporters, particularly the insensitive and superficial Lydia Perl. She was licking her chops when the coroner's office was called in and the story hit. You couldn't't turn the television on without hearing about the cataclysmic suicide free-for-all. The four boys watched with icy glares as the craven, benevolent father and the haughty, priggish mother drive away from the house. The four boys hoped that those two would be dealt their castigation for his cowardice and her dictatorship.

_None of my daughters lacked for any love. There was plenty of love in our house. __I'll never understand why._

She would never understand because she would not want to understand that it she had a hand in driving her daughters to the edge of the proverbial cliff.

Three months after the demise of the Lisbon girls, an all points bulletin was enforced to find the missing Cougar, which then brought up a state search for not only the car thief but as well the potential murderer of the Lisbon girls. The last point, which seemed to be more speculation than fact lasted for the better part of half a decade. The Cougar was found deserted near an overpass with no sign of the guilty party. The case turned cold and declared unsolved.

No one spoke the names of the Lisbon girls ever again save for David Barker, Chase Buell, Parker Denton and Tim Weiner, who were perhaps the only ones, along with Paul Baldino and Joe Larson who had attended the funeral. Larson's slow mind was unable to comprehend what was happening but he felt it just the same. Baldino was dressed as though he was a 'Made Man' in his black pinstripe suit, white pressed shirt, burgundy tie and scarlet roses that would be laid on each of their respective graves.

Parker Denton remembers the taste in his mouth, though he's unable to distinguish one from the other. Whenever he walks into a liquor store, he always gets the same thing: Peach Schapps. To others, they would get drunk on the hops, barley and alcoholic contents. Parker got drunk on a different high. He would kick back a throat-full, imagining that he was drinking in the sweet nectar from Bonnie's lips; lips that were as innocent and a tongue as shy as a church mouse at Sunday mass.

Tim Weiner, Chase Buell and David Barker are amongst themselves with guilt. They wonder how things would have changed had they arrived sooner. Perhaps they could have saved the girls from such an atrocious fate. Many questions came to them over the years though they still have not found an answer to any one of them.

Did they want to be saved at all?

Did Cecilia ignite the fuse for it all to happen?

If Cecilia lived, would they still have gone through with it?

Did Trip's conquest of Lux condemn them all to such a degree that it brought upon their deaths?

Had they been summoned when Lux was the only one left?

Paul Baldino went to take art classes. He once said he wanted to draw Therese. With the way things turned out, he was too late to carry out his heartfelt intention. They all had to return to their lives, yet they all still return to that sidewalk every year and light a vigil for the Lisbon girls, praying that God may forgive them for their actions and that they might be delivered from eternal damnation.

As the boys walked back home, they were all thinking the same thing.

_**We would never be certain as to the sequence of events. We argue about it still…**_

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Had they looked closer, they would have noticed that there were 5 graves……only four bodies.

To Be Continued….

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If you wish this to continue…let me know. 


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